Posted
by
Soulskillon Saturday July 16, 2011 @07:22PM
from the scratch-all-humans dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Georgia Tech's Healthcare Robotics Lab and Willow Garage have been collaborating with Henry Evans, who became a mute quadriplegic after suffering a stroke 10 years ago, to use a PR2 robot as his surrogate. The robot is allowing him to do things like shave himself and scratch itches when he has them, things for which he's been dependent on other people. Henry uses a head tracker to directly move the robot's body, including its arms and head, or invoke autonomous actions, such as navigating in a room or fetching objects. The researchers hope personal robots will allow people with severe physical disabilities to live better and gain more independence."

Yeah, I watched to video. It's not really that the robot is shaving for him, but putting the shaver next to his head. He does most of the work. Not particularly impressive.

First, the GP didn't say that the robot was shaving for him. He said that Henry looked happy.

Second, what's impressive about the video is that Henry is now able to do these tasks by himself (via robot proxy), rather than depending on his wife to do them. It may not be significant to you because you're probably completely abled, but be

I felt the same way when Leroy Petry, who just received the medal of honor, was showing off his artificial hand [msn.com] in an NBC Nightly News segment a night or two ago (couldn't find the video online). He said it learned to control its grasp in about 15 minutes because it uses the same nerves his hand did. And yes, it would be better if he didn't need it, it's not as good as the real thing, etc., but it sure is cool to see such futuristic technology make a difference in the real world!

However useful helper bots may be, clearly you can see that the technology must eventually be -inside- the quadriplegics or otherwise severely injured individuals.

I mean, it's great to have a robot you can use to help take care of yourself, but wouldn't it be better to just be able to take care of yourself sans robot assistant?

I find it very interesting and just a bit ironic that in nearly all the science fiction works the cyborgs are less "human", whereas in reality cybernetics enable those with disabilities to be more human, and lead lives that are more normal.

I find it very interesting and just a bit ironic that in nearly all the science fiction works the cyborgs are less "human", whereas in reality cybernetics enable those with disabilities to be more human, and lead lives that are more normal.

I find it very interesting that you seem to believe that people leading less normal lives are less human. I guess people really ARE prejudiced against the crippled... or anything not like them.

There are two distinct types of problems that need to be solved. The first is, how to design a robot that can understand what the patient is asking for--- and can do that. Solutions to those problems are currently external to the patient now because that's the easiest place to do the research.

The second problem is, how to figure out what the patient is asking the robot to do. Solutions to those problems are currently external to the patient now because that's the easiest place to do the research.